Chatting with a friend after a blessed morning at Mass I quipped that no one ever asks me for my opinions. She, not being a native English speaker, was confused. I clarified: “No one ever asks me, so what do you think about this or that. I actually think a lot of things, and have a list of opinions so long it probably reaches all the way down to hell.”

She looked at me with a grin and retorted: “It probably has its origins there.”

Very funny. But probably true. Aren’t most opinions just a kind of sideways complaint or criticism?